Analysis of Religious Criteria in Qualification Assessment of Election Candidates in Islamic Republic of Iran

The right to be elected is one of the important examples of right to self-determination. Although this right is not absolute, its restriction must be justified. Unjustified insistence upon meritocracy and trusteeship of candidates, has resulted in violation of the right to be elected and the right to vote. From a socio-political point of view, such restrictions harm democratic aspect of any political system. In I.R. Iran, necessitation of qualification of being just, supposing official positions as religious trust and argument to the principle of incompetency and non-existence of legal qualifications have resulted in many challenges for free, fair and competitive election. Subjective and non-institutional assessment of the nominees by the Guardian Council has worsened the situation. The aim of this article is to evaluate the method of assessment of qualifications of nominees. The article suggests to rely upon those fiqhi theories that present a more tolerant view on the qualification of being just. Also due to the fact that people are the owners of public sphere, it is possible to presume official authorities as contractual trust rather than religious and legal trust. Similarly, there is way to rely upon the presumption of non-sinfulness instead of being just to reduce some restrictions on qualifications of nominees.